7 Common Mistakes In Commercial Gyms

Commercial gyms across Celbridge, Kilcock, Maynooth, Leixlip and Lucan have some big things in common. For the numbers that are members, the lack of results is startling. And that bothers me. It bothers me as a professional that at the coal face of tackling a large problem in society, that we are actually making very little in roads. Why is that? Well there are some things that are seen over and over again with its members and the training environment.

1. You are training with no purpose/consistency

I have found over the years that training in commercial gyms leads to the mere renting of equipment. You pay your dues and heaven forbid anyone should care if you turn up. In the case of a commercial gym, in all honesty they wish you wouldn’t. Why? There would be chaos at 6pm on a Monday in a scramble for the treadmill.

So commercial gyms love the fact that you are inconsistent. 1 visit this week, 2 the next and 3 the week after before a holiday scuppers your momentum and you are not seen for dust.

It actually becomes a very poor investment on your behalf with little to nothing to show from your time.

All of this leads to training with little purpose and consistency. Commercial gyms (and this wouldn’t be fair to cast them all under the same banner – but hey, I am open to suggestions) are conducive to training with a lack of purpose. The programs are often poorly designed, generic and cookie cutter and unfortunately there is little in the way to motivate staff to go above and beyond to actually deliver a result.

Which leads us onto the lack of consistency. You can come up with a million and one excuses not to attend yourself and yes it is your fault. But what are the gym who are servicing you doing about it too? Checking in? Calling you? Texting you. No, I didn’t think so.

2. You are training in the commercial gym with stuff off the internet

Unfortunately the reality is that poor program design, follow up and measurement tracking leads the user to finding answers on the Google-sphere. Which in turn leads to the next instagram model dishing out horrific exercise advice.

Programme design is not something you pick up off a cereal box, or in a weekend. There is a reason there are degree level educated coaches in high quality gyms who then also back this up with sound science based program design.

Not Instagram’s latest offering.

If you are training off the internet – please – show me your results.

3. You are using bro-science in the gym

“Here take this. I got great results” Really. And it had nothing to do with the fact that you ate sensibly for your goals, trained your ass off and lived like a monk? Bro science cuts through the rational, scientific principles and ignores the rigor of critical thinking to bring you fads, extreme dieting and exercise and a supplement industry rife with charlatans.

And yes I get the whole – science is behind. But there are still principles that are timeless, founded on science and backed up with 1000s of applications.

The trouble is they are dull and boring and completely unsexy. Things like progression, volume, whole foods, resistance training, sleep, water and hydration. But they work. So before you plough into a 3rd tub of amino acids. How is your protein intake for the day and are you hydrated? No. Back to the drawing board padwan.

4. You are training with the intensity of a choir boy

When you are flying solo, as is often the case in a commercial gym, those breaks to look at your phone, chats, 5 minutes boredom breaks and technique that was sloppy are eating into your results.

To change you need to force change. Those who bust their butts in the gym get something out of it. If you are pooling and training with no purpose then again your results will be limited.

A good, intense training session should be done and dusted within the hour with every minute accounted for.

Try this – go in with a target for the day. Hit it, or die trying, leave and repeat. You need to press the 15kg Dumbbells for 8 reps – do it. Tomorrow  do more.

Simple really. Yet it requires purpose and intensity.

5. You are impatient in the gym

Recognise this – training and transforming your body is one of THE hardest things you can do. Even harder when you have kids, a stressful job, commutes and social commitments. Yet it can be done. It takes time though. But don’t hop around trying this and that. Stick at one thing. Get feedback and review how you are going. Then tweak. Invest in a coach.

6. You are a commercial gym class junkie

On one hand classes are great (disclaimer – we run them). You are in a sociable setting, you have a laugh and get a sweat on burning some calories. Nevertheless soley depending on classes for results can lead to frustration, and again, a lack of results.

You see there is nothing tailored about them meaning one session you could put 100% effort in and then the following day 90%, the week after 75% and then 80% after before going back to 100% from the off. The undulation is not progressive. I mean there are only so many squats in 30 seconds you can do right? The body has no reason to change once you hit these ceilings.

Sometimes the generic nature and repetitiveness of class movements doing 100s of repetitions with a dodgy knee can bring that to fruition too. You wouldn’t drive down the road with a bent chassis right?

With training  there is a purpose, focus and intensity to what you are doing that is specific to YOU. Dodgy knee? Modify the exercise. Presses cause you pain? Find an alternative. History of back pain? Find what is causing it and work from there.

Classes are great for a short period of time or IN ADDITION to conventional resistance training.

7. You are not logging

How do you know if you are improving if you are not logging every performance in the gym?

Put simply if you start the year squatting 40kg for 10 reps and through not logging progress you are still squatting 40kg for 10 reps – nothing changes.

Or if we look at volume and for one exercise you are doing 50kg for 10 reps which is around 500kg volume per set and you do 3 sets. That is a total volume of 1500kg.

Then the next week you do 4 sets which is a total volume of 2000kg. But then something happens. You haven’t logged where you left off. You thought you did 50kg but this time you mistakenly put on 45kg and do sets of 10 for 3 reps. Now you have gone from stressing the body effectively with 2000kg to only 1350kg (45 x 10 x 3).

No wonder nothing is changing!!

You can see the power of using resistance training but equally how it needs to be managed for results.

Why not see how we are the anthesis to normal gyms with our 21 Day Shred Programme. You may get better results in 21 Days than a year spent dawdling in a commercial gym.

Contact us today and see how we can help you ==> Click Here

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